Editing Ninurta (section)

=== Other myths ===
[[File:UrukPlate3000BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Sumerian [[cylinder seal]] impression dating to {{circa}} 3200 BC showing an ''[[Ensi (Sumerian)|ensi]]'' and his acolyte feeding a sacred herd; Ninurta was an agricultural deity and, in a poem known as the "Sumerian ''Georgica''", he offers detailed advice on farming]]

In ''Ninurta's Journey to Eridu'', Ninurta leaves the [[Ekur]] temple in Nippur and travels to the [[Abzu]] in [[Eridu]], led by an unnamed guide.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|pages=52–53, 62}} In Eridu, Ninurta sits in assembly with the gods [[Anu|An]] and [[Enki]]{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=53}} and Enki gives him the ''[[Me (mythology)|me]]'' for life.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=53, 63}} The poem ends with Ninurta returning to Nippur.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=53, 63}} The account probably deals with a journey in which Ninurta's cult statue was transported from one city to another and the "guide" is the person carrying the cult statue.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=53}} The story closely resembles the other Sumerian myth of ''[[Inanna#Conquests and patronage|Inanna and Enki]]'', in which the goddess Inanna journeys to Eridu and receives the ''mes'' from Enki.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=43}} In a poem known as the "Sumerian ''Georgica''", written sometime between 1700 and 1500 BC, Ninurta delivers detailed advice on agricultural matters,{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}}{{sfn|van der Toorn|Becking|van der Horst|1999|page=627}} including how to plant, tend, and harvest crops, how to prepare fields for planting, and even how to drive birds away from the crops.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} The poem covers nearly every aspect of farm life throughout the course of the year.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}}

The myth of the ''Slain Heroes'' is alluded to in many texts, but is never preserved in full.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} In this myth, Ninurta must fight a variety of opponents.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|pages=138, 142}} Black and Green describe these opponents as "bizarre minor deities";{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=138}} they include the [[six-headed Wild Ram]], the [[Palm Tree King]], the [[seven-headed serpent]] and the [[Mermaid (Ninurta)|Kulianna the Mermaid (or "fish-woman")]].{{sfn|van der Toorn|Becking|van der Horst|1999|page=628}} Some of these foes are inanimate objects, such as the [[Magilum boat|Magillum Boat]], which carries the souls of the dead to the Underworld, and the [[strong copper]], which represents a metal that was conceived as precious.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=138}} This story of successive trials and victories may have been the source for the Greek legend of the [[Labours of Heracles|Twelve Labors of Heracles]].{{sfn|van der Toorn|Becking|van der Horst|1999|page=628}}